There is no cap for human aspirations; the more we have the more we want. Similar is the case with freedom and democracy too. Those in the Opposition from time immemorial kept complaining that governments of those times were acting in undemocratic ways. Similarly, now Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and the set of self-styled intellectuals in the capital keep attacking the Modi-led NDA government for subversion of freedom and democratic principles. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is understandably not enthused and has openly aired his resentment over such insinuations against his government.
A fair assessment of the situation in India, except for the Emergency period in the mid-1970s, could be that democracy here is in full flow. There is rather a surfeit of freedom we as a society enjoy and which we tend to use and misuse to our heart’s content. In most respects there is not much difference in the style of functioning between the NDA and UPA. Modi has not been able to chart a new course. It also meant a slow march forward for the nation, adhering to the Hindu Rate of Growth, other than for most parts of the Manmohan Singh era when GDP rate rose up to nine per cent and then started falling. Overall, India remains where it was long ago.
Contrast this with China, where the word of the party is law and the top executive of the nation is duty-bound to implement its diktat. That helped take matters forward, while the elected leader and government of India will keep squirming in their chairs once a plan is rolled out for implementation; as in the case of the farmer protests in Delhi now. An assessment now is that China will, in a decade’s time, overtake the United States as the world’s largest economy. The corresponding scenario for India will be unpredictable.
At the same time, Indian democracy has its strengths. A self-acclaimed chaiwala has become the chief executive of the nation of 1.4 billion people. This itself is a big step forward for democracy from the decades after Independence when one family concentrated the power in its hands and ruled the nation for three successive generations.
Democracy or any system is fine as long as it helps in the growth of the nation and welfare of its people. Democracy per se or the freedom that it offers people will alone not suffice. Other factors that need to drive a nation is a robust economy and for that a participatory economic vision is a must where the Opposition too must lend its weight. After all, good economics alone will enable growth and progress it and partisanship is not expected while dealing with issues of national importance.